Have a merry Craniumas!
by guren666
Summary: Spending the Christmas eve together, Sans and Grillby each confront their fear of losing each other and talk about it. In the end, they end up on the couch, just enjoying the moment of peace.


"no means no. just give it a rest. i am staying with grillbz tonight. you and mtt should spend your first christmas eve as married couple together. alone." Sans replied back to his little brother through the phone. On the other end, Papyrus loudly sighed. " _FINE, THEN I'LL SPEND THE DAY HOME WITH METTATON. ARE YOU STILL WAITING FOR GRILLBY?_ "

The skeleton glanced over his shoulder, into the window of Grillby's, where the usual patrons were drinking and making merry. And there, behind the counter stood Grillby, who was fixedly staring at the glass he was polishing.

" _SANS?_ "

"hm? oh yes, still waiting. don't worry pap, grillbz is closing soon. i'll talk to you later. bye." He hung up when he caught the dejected, almost wistful look in the flame elemental's eyes.

that's cute. he's thinking about me.

He entered the pub casually, but he felt quite uneasy. The skeleton hoped his boyfriend wouldn't mind if he came to pick him up. Of course he wouldn't. It's Grillbz we're talking about.

Stricken with sudden nervousness, he made his way to the solitary bar counter, where the bartender was still very deep in thought and didn't seen him approaching. This gave him a very daring idea. There is nothing wrong with some teasing and display of love.

Sans climbed atop the stool and bend over, kissing him on the cheek. "Wh-what...? Oh. Sans." Grillby looked at him a bit tiredly, putting down the glass. Sans grinned and sat down properly. "'sup grillbz. you'll be closing soon?"

Nodding, Grillby leaned over the bar counter. "You're a bit earlier than I was expecting you." Grillby broke out of his monotone voice and caressed his cheek with warm palms. Sans always found his heat so pleasant, so cozy. "yeah, my shift ended a bit sooner. so i thought i'd get to pick up my flaming hot man." He winked to which Grillby chuckled. "I see. Wait just a bit longer and we'll go."

"'kay. you need helpin' with something?" Sans offered to lend a hand, but the bartender shook head. "I've got it covered. Also..." He bent down and picked out a bottle of ketchup. He poured him some and Sans shrugged. "you know I never say no to ketchup." He chugged it down and Grillby poured him another glass. Patrons were leaving in groups. Meanwhile the two enjoyed their time together without saying anything. No words were necessary for that peaceful moment.

When the last monster – the drunk rabbit girl left and they were left alone, Grillby finally loosened his bow tie and sighed wearily.

"tired?"

"You could say that. It's nothing unusual. Now, I need to lock up..." He went to the kitchen, he took down the apron on the way there and Sans rose on his feet, waiting for him by the front door.

Two minutes later, Grillby came out, he changed from his bartender outfit to his 'normal' attire, which was rarely seen by anyone. It was just normal pants and very comfy looking jacket and a long black scarf. Sans took in the rare sight and dreamily looked on, whistling as he drew closer. "grillbz, you're looking smokin' hot in casual clothes."

Fire puns again. When did he stop minding them and started liking them? Must be around the same time they both confessed. Sometimes it's just too much to keep something hidden. Sometimes one must be brave and confront his fears.

In a strange turn of events, some interventions from family helped and the mutual awkwardness faded away after they started going out. He and Sans had harbored feelings for each other and when they hit it off; he couldn't be happier. But the hardest part was being apart from him. Spending every minute of free time they had together was all he could wish for, but when they parted each morning to go to work and attend to their responsibilities, the fiery bartender couldn't help it and fear that one day, somehow Sans would simply leave him or worse, they'd break up over something utterly stupid and they'd never talk again.

Being a powerful fire monster didn't mean he wasn't capable of feeling insecure, like everyone else. He just did a good job at hiding his emotions... but he wondered how long he can keep up his relationship with this constant dread weighing on his heart.

"grillbz?" Sans's voice got him back to present in an instant. He pushed up the glasses on nose bridge, hoping he didn't look very... troubled. The last thing he wanted was to ruin Christmas for them just because he's over thinking. "Everything is alright. Just feeling worn out."

Sans didn't look like he bought that poorly baked lie, but he accepted the answer, albeit he saw the worry written all over his facial expression. Grillby could read him like an open book.

The two exited Grillby's, into the night streets of Snowdin. Only a handful of people were around, all on the way to their homes, fathers and mothers going back to their families. Sans stood up on his toes so he could see his and Pap's house in the distance. It looked normal. Seems like MTT and Paps are fine.

Grillby finished locking up and put the keys into his pocket and he caught on to where his skeleton was looking. It was quite a cold night, but he felt warmer as he intertwined hands with him. Sans gasped upon the contact, then relaxed. "Now, shall we move on to my house?"

Affectionately, he snuggled closer to Grillby. "yes, let's."

A fire elemental and a skeleton walked to Grillby's home, which wasn't far. They may have gotten some curious (even some disgusted) glances, but they were too enamored with each other to pay attention to them.

Sans let go of Grillby's arm, seeing as he stopped before his house. Grillby unlocked the front door and he made a gentlemanly gesture towards Sans who walked inside first. And they say chivalry is dead.

"thanks, hot stuff." He winked, walking further inside, into the living room where in one corner stood a tree, half – way decorated.

Shutting the door behind him, the fiery man took off his shoes and jacket along with the black scarf, putting jacket on the rack. As he presumed, Sans had his hands on the decorations, trying to fill the tree up. With his bony hands, he fumbled with the lights, mumbling something. Grillby drew closer and caught him saying 'this is hard' and 'stupid tangled cables' and he continued on untangling the lights, which occupied the skeleton.

Thinking of lending a hand, he picked another knotted mess and stood close to Sans who looked up at him mischievously as he activated his power and wrapped the lights around him with ease with just one hand swipe. Lucky they weren't on yet. Grillby hastily took them down and turned the tables on him, wrapping Sans in the lights.

Seeing as he got beat at his own game, Sans chuckled. "if you wanted to tie me up, there are way more effective ways." He said as he was unwrapping the wires from his body. Turning back to his masterpiece on the tree, he caught a glimpse of Grillby's tall stature heading towards the kitchen, without a word.

"probably went to fix us somethin' quick." He assumed and with his magic, he had the tree looking all proper and shiny in a jiffy. Sans took a few steps back to evaluate his handiwork, when he noticed a fatal flaw, a missing piece. It was the star that goes on top of the tree.

"must be here somewhere..." he rummaged through the boxes, until he found it, laying on the very bottom of the last box. "there you are, lil' buddy." He picked up the star and eyed it, then the tree. He could just use his magic to hang up it, much more easier, but he really, really wanted to do this without magic. He'll need a stool...or something.

Or make a makeshift staircase from boxes? It should do the trick. Sans put the star down on the table, grabbing hold of the three boxes, stacking them up next to the tree in an orderly fashion. "yup, now i can climb up there."

Picking up the star, he heard Grillby humming from the next room, which conjured a goofy smile on his face. Sans braced himself for the climb (which wasn't too high, but he was secretly afraid of heights), ascending the boxes very carefully.

Standing up, he tip – toed with the star dangling between his hands in an effort to reach it. But still, he didn't reach the top. The approaching footsteps made him look back and he almost lost his balance. Grillby walked in with two steaming cups, his eyes darted to him, standing atop the stack of boxes with a star. Sans laughed and descended the 'stairs' as the fiery man strut closer, putting the cups on the table. "Sans, were you trying to put the star on the tree the old fashioned way, without magic?"

"yeah, emphasis on tried." He admitted and his cheekbones burned up, when Grillby advanced to him, made him turn back and picked him up like he weighed nothing. "whoa, why did you pick me up?"

"So you could hang the star."

With his helping hand, the skeleton finally managed to place the star on the tree top. Grillby put him down and Sans put the plug in. The lights lit up. It was a wondrous sight to see.

"It's very... sparkly. Dazzling."

"just like you." Sans blurted out and he saw another sparkle blazing behind those glasses. He dryly gulped down, when his bony fingers ended up engrossed inside the comfortingly warm hands of his boyfriend, who led him to the couch.

Grillby sat down, tapping the space next to him. Sans brazenly beamed at him, sitting in his lap and wrapping his hands around him. To that, Grillby responded with kissing his cheek. "Sans, you have no idea how I treasure every moment we spend together. What I'm saying is that I care about you, I worry about you. Sometimes I might get a bit cranky, but that doesn't mean I stopped loving you. Spending this special day together is proof of our love, the bond we have."

Hearing him saying all that warmed up his very **SOUL** , but why did it sound so... melancholic? This must be connected to earlier in the bar. Grillby is feeling down and it's up to him to make him feel better.

Sans grasped his hands, holding them gently. "you know, i'm fearful what tomorrow might bring. what if someday something happens to us. like we drift apart or we break up over something stupid. i fear one day you might stop feeling the same way and that thought alone scares me. i don't wanna lose you, grillby."

It wasn't only him who thought about this? Grillby felt... relief. Yes, that was the right word for the feeling he was currently having. "Sans, I'm afraid, but whatever comes our way, we'll talk about it, like now and face it like a couple. Even though we've been together for a while, we're still at this stage where we keep our feelings and uncertainties bottled up. This needs to change. For your sake and mine. For the sake of our relationship."

"aawww, grillbz you're making me so sappy right now. i love you so damn much." Sans melted in the warmth of Grillby's embrace, sighing contently.

"Love you too, Sans."

They dreamily gazed into each other's eyes for what seemed like eternity when Grillby gently grabbed the skeleton's chin and planted a kiss.

When they parted, Sans grinned. "happy craniumas!" He couldn't help the pun, it was too good an opportunity to miss on it.

To which he got a hearty reply, along with a sweet smile. "Merry Christmas, Sans."

They ended up spending majority of the eve on that couch, enveloped under blanket, drinking hot chocolate and cuddling. A lot of cuddling ensued.

Eventually, they both fell asleep in each other's arms.

~ THE END ~


End file.
